Shame On Me
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seventeen - Mercedes connects with one of the Glee guys...


_Three... Two (!!)... ONE (yay!) week Glee hiatus, the horrors! To try and make it go by faster, I decided to do this project. I'll put up one new ficlet every day (I hope...) up to the day Glee returns! So be on the lookout! :)_

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**"Shame On Me"  
Mercedes, Mike/Mercedes**

Mercedes Jones was not shy. She was confident and proud, no matter if some people would have her be stamped as a bottom-of-the-heap Glee loser. She knew who she was and she loved it. Mercedes Jones was not shy.

There was one weak spot in that statement. Most of the time it didn't bother her; she just went right along. But then there were those other times, when the problem was staring her right in the face, and then… she could be a little shy… 'apprehensive' was a better word.

When she'd gotten close to Kurt, she'd felt wanted in a way she wasn't used to… she'd liked feeling that way. She'd actually thought, even after Rachel and Tina had tried to warn her, that she and Kurt had something.

And then she'd learned the truth, and her hopes were dashed, crashed and burned. She was upset for a time, naturally, but like she was known to do, she powered through… all was right again.

Time had gone by, and things were great. But one day, the butterflies fluttered back into her stomach.

It started with Mr. Schuester challenging them to one-on-one face offs. When Rachel had asked how the matches would be made, it had been revealed that they had already been matched up to their opponents. The natural follow-up question had been a chorus of "who am I performing against?"

That had quickly been shut down, as it was revealed they wouldn't know until the day. Supposedly, it was to make sure they'd go in and give their best… But once the practice had ended, it was clear… they wouldn't want to wait. In some cases, that curiosity was stronger than in others.

Mercedes had spotted Mike Chang hovering around Mr. Schuester's bag, throwing glances around. When he'd seen her see him, he'd stood up rod straight and walked over to Matt and Santana.

After practice was over, Mercedes had gone to her locker, when she caught a glance of someone she thought she'd recognized walk by. She shut her locker door, and she saw it was Mike. He had the same look on his face that he'd had, hovering by Mr. Schuester's bag.

Curious as to what he was up to, she looked around, and she followed him. When she caught up, while still at a distance, she saw he was at Mr. Schuester's office door. She knew Mr. Schuester was gone, something with his wife.

"What are you doing?" she asked, stepping up when she saw he was playing with the door handle. At the sound of a voice, Mike jumped back and spun around. When he saw her, he let out a breath. "Are you breaking in?" she whispered with a frown.

"It's not what you think," he spoke, fidgeting.

"You want to see who you're facing off against," she deadpanned with a smirk. He looked like a kid who wanted to peek under the wrapping of his Christmas presents before his parents got up.

"Okay, guess it is… Look, I… You and most of the others in Glee, you've been doing things like this for a while… I really want to do good on this." Mercedes thought for a moment, looking around. She reached into her hair, pulling out a pin. She handed it to him.

"I wasn't here." He shook his head as though to say 'I never saw you.'

"Thanks," he smiled.

"Never here," she pointed with a smile.

"Hey, I brought my own pin… Unruly hair…" he shrugged slyly. That got a laugh out of her as she walked away.

The butterflies didn't capture her just yet, but they were on the verge of bursting from their cocoons.

They made their appearance a few days later, after the face offs. Mercedes had crushed Finn by the chorus. The first crack in the cocoon came when Mr. Schuester called Mike's name. And when he called up Tina next, Mike made a good show, but Mercedes could tell he'd known it was coming. He looked confident, ready. Tina went first, then…

She could tell Mike was nervous throughout his song. But in a way, that made it work. He finished the song, and up came the second crack. Tina still edged him out, but it was very close. More importantly, Mike looked satisfied.

The cocoons broke wide as, on the way out of practice, Mike fell in rank next to her, slipping the hair pin back in her hand. She grasped it, watching him walk off with Matt and Puck. The butterflies took flight just moments after Mike looked back to her with a thankful smile.

For the first time, she understood that, while she had moved on after the deal with Kurt… In one instant, Mike had smiled, her heart went 'yes…' One more instant and her mind cried 'no!'

Mercedes Jones was not shy, and she was no fool either. She'd taken risks, she'd put herself out there and taken a chance. She wasn't blaming Kurt… but now she'd grown gun shy.

Fool me once, fool me twice…

Wondering, fantasizing, that was easy… there was nothing there to ever come along and tell her it was all for naught and she'd just end up alone again. She preferred fantasy that way.

But it wasn't going to stay that way, would it? Would she spend her life wanting and then immediately back away? No, she wasn't going to let one bad experience dictate her way through…

Still, caution wasn't without its merits. True, Mike had been nice, sweet… so sweet… and he had moves, and he could sing… He'd stuck with them, hadn't given her much of anything that would suggest he might break… She'd heard rumors flying, around the time April Rhodes had been with them… he was a football player, he was fairly popular, what made her think she…

She had to stop the butterflies going for sonic flight in her stomach or she'd go mad.

It all came down to a choice, one of two ways: She could go on the side of caution, learn to deal with wanting and not getting… like she had. Or… Or she could take the ever-terrifying leap of faith and go ahead, taking this foot in the door with Mike and getting along the rest of the way through that door.

Fool me once, fool me twice…

THE END


End file.
